A Moment In Time
by Augusta
Summary: A peek into moments at the Las Vegas Crime lab. No real ships, just a little fun.
1. Chapter 1

**1-**

"Hodges, do you have my results yet?" Grissom leaned in the doorway of the Trace Lab.

The tech in question retrieved a piece of paper from the printer with a flourish and made his way to the CSI Supervisor to hand it over with what everyone referred to as 'smug-bastard smirk #2' plastered on his face. Grissom took a step back into the hallway to better examine the paper. Hodges followed, pointing to different spots on the paper as he went into the usual overly specific narration.

Grissom tried to interject and stop the eager tech but to no avail. Luckily he was saved when Wendy marched up, grabbed Hodges by the collar and planted a firm, mind-numbing kiss on his startled lips.

When she pulled back it was as if she'd just realized Grissom was standing there. "Oh, hi. Was I interrupting something?"

"No, no. You're quite all right. The interruption was welcome. Thank you, from the bottom of my heart."

She smiled slightly and tucked a piece of hair behind her ear. "Oh, well then, any time."

As she waltzed off Hodges opened his mouth to say something and ended up only looking like a fish out of water. Grissom took in his perplexed appearance and pointed up. Hodges line of sight followed his boss's finger.

"Apparently Catherine didn't get all the Christmas decorations."

Above his head was a single small sprig of mistletoe. And as Hodges mind began to coalesce he could think of only one intelligent thing to say.

"Oh."


	2. Chapter 2

**2-**

Grissom lay on his couch drifting in and out of sleep, listening to the muted sounds of lab, the vestiges of a migraine slowly fading. He was startled into semi-wakefulness when he felt a hand caress his cheek. His eyes slowly opened to find Sara leaning over him.

She smiled at his confused look. "Hi."

"Hi. When did you get back?"

"A little while ago. I missed you."

"I missed you too." He smiled up at her and reached to touch her hair. "You grew your hair out."

She smiled coyly. "Do you like it?"

"I love it. Doesn't matter what you do, you'll always look beautiful."

Her smiled transformed into a grin. "I never realized you were such a smooth talker."

She leaned down to kiss him and he brought his head up to meet her halfway when his cell phone rang.

She stopped. "You should answer that."

He reached a hand out to pull her closer. "It can wait."

"Answer the phone Gil."

His eyes popped open and when he began to realize it had been a dream his heart almost broke. He rubbed at the tears threatening to surface and his cell rang again. He reached out with a curse and flipped it open. A single name shined up at him from the glowing screen, 'Sara'.

He eagerly brought the phone to ear as relief, love, and happiness nearing euphoria flew across his face.

"Hi. I was just thinking about you."


	3. Chapter 3

**3-**

Catherine sat in the break room poring over a case file. Needless to say, she was startled when a hand appeared just inside her field of vision to place a Styrofoam container in front of her.

"Lunch time. Or did you forget you're supposed to eat on your breaks?"

She smiled at Warrick as she grabbed for the container. "Thanks. What'd you get?"

"Cheeseburger and fries, does the body good."

"Don't you mean milk?"

He laughed and dropped a carton of skim in the middle of the table. "That too."

She opened her lunch and the aroma of red meat and deep-fried potato skins wafted up. Her stomach growled in response and she sighed with pleasure.

"You sure know the way to a woman's heart Warrick."

"I thought it was a man's heart."

She grinned, stealing his line. "That too. Pass the ketchup, I just realized I'm starving."

He squeezed a liberal amount on his fries and handed it over just as she reached across the table to grab it. Their fingers brushed for just a second, but Warrick felt his heart skip a beat and Catherine's face flushed just the slightest pink. As the moment ended they felt their heart rate slow and their faces cool after the sudden rush.

Catherine took a bite of her burger and mulled it over as she went back to reading her file. Warrick picked up a fry and pointed it in the general direction of the sheaf of papers about to have ketchup dripped on them.

"Whatcha got?"

"That rape case you're working…apparently my DB did the dirty work."

He reached over to inspect the case file. "Looks like we'll be working closely tonight, then."


	4. Chapter 4

Thanks for the reviews. Here's another...finally. It's a little longer than the others but I hope you think it's just as good.

**4-**

Catherine mosied into the fingerprint lab to see Mandy, chin in hand, idly working at her computer. She could just see Archie's rear end sticking out from under the next table, obviously hooking up his latest requisitions. Catherine dropped onto the stool next to Mandy. "Slow night for you guys too, huh?"

"Can you believe I've almost caught up on all the backlogged cases. I guess Vegas crime life is taking the night off."

"Personally, I'm using it to get a head start." The two women looked up to see Henry shuffle into the room, a stack of file folders clutched to his chest.

Archie's head popped out from under the table. "What'cha got there Henry?"

Henry smiled shyly and fumbled the manilla folders as he made his way to his corner station. "Just some cold case files."

Archie rolled his eyes. "Dude, ever heard of taking the night off?"

"This from the man updating all the labs computers and hooking up all the new ones." Hodges said, wandering in looking bored.

"Hey, this is fun for me."

Hodges dropped his elbows on the table next to Mandy and propped his chin in his hands. All three sets of eyes began to glaze over as AFIS ran its slow search. Catherine's eyes slowly drifted to the young, shy tech working studiously in his corner. "You know, there are times when I wonder if Henry's gay."

Mandy arched an eyebrow. "How do you figure?"

"Well, he doesn't really seem to get out much. You know, doesn't talk about his life much. Doesn't flirt with anyone at work like Hodges does."

"Hey. I don't flirt."

Archie's head popped up between Catherine and Mandy. "Oh, puh-lease. You and Wendy flirt shamelessly. It's kinda pathetic."

"Anyway," Catherine interjected. "Back to the original subject…Henry."

"I don't know, but I kinda have to agree." Archie said as he finally stood up staring bemusedly at the extra cord in his hand.

Mandy's other eyebrow slowly rose to join the other. "Care to explain."

Hodges took over the conversation. "Kind of an unwritten guy rule. If the subject of questioning another man's sexuality comes up in conversation more than a few times, the guy's probably gay."

Mandy's mouth dropped open. Catherine thought over this tidbit of information. "Actually that kinda makes sense."

"Well, I think Henry's straight, just…shy."

"Shy?" Catherine piped up. "Shy ain't the word for the boy. More like super-introverted."

"Another point towards gayness. Especially if he's deep in the closet."

Mandy shot them all stern look. "He's not gay."

A smile the lab referred to as 'Evil grin #3' split Hodges face. "Prove it."

"'Scuse me?"

'Evil grin #3' morphed into 'Evil grin #4'. "I said…PROVE…IT."

Mandy's mouth opened and shut a few times and Archie started to snicker. Finally Mandy resolutely set her jaw and stood. "Fine then. I will."

The other three heads turned to watch Mandy march right up to Henry, pull his swivel chair out, park herself firmly in his lap and fuse her lips to his. When she finally pulled back his merely blinked in astonishment at her. She considered Henry for a moment before smiling at the other three in the room.

"Sorry to burst your bubble guys but he's straight as an arrow."

Before she could get up Henry gently turned her face back to his and kissed her. "What are you doing tomorrow?"

"Who…wha…nothing."

"Then…um…would you like to have lunch with me?"

"Huh?"

"I always wanted to ask you out but…um…and then you kissed me and…I mean, if you don't want to…"

She kissed him again as Archie, Catherine, and Hodges smiled and crept out of the room.

"Finally. I thought those two would never get it together." Archie murmured as he stuffed the extra cord in his pocket.

"You think they'll ever figure out we set them up?"

Catherine closed the lab door behind her and smacked the back of Hodges' head. "Not if you keep your trap shut."


	5. Chapter 5

**5-**

Nick spent yet another shift sitting the emergency room. At least this time he wasn't alone. Brass sat on the next bed hold an icepack to the back of his head. Nick hadn't fared as well as the Detective though. His favorite shirt was ruined as he had bled all over it, the bullet wound on his left arm having something to do with that. Luckily by the time he made it to the hospital the bleeding had slowed to a slow trickle so he'd been relegated to a bed and given some painkillers and a towel until a nurse could see to him.

"You gonna be okay Stokes?" Brass' gravelly voice intruded on his thoughts and Nick pulled the towel away to look at his wound.

"Looks like a through-and-through. They're waiting for the x-rays to come back to see if it hit anything important."

"Must not have. You don't seem in too much pain."

"Vicoden is a wonderful thing. So what happened to you?"

"One of the little punks' girlfriend snuck up behind me and cracked my skull with a steel pipe." He pulled the icepack away to show a large, colorful goose egg.

"If you guys are done comparing war wounds…" Both looked to see the doctor with Nick's x-ray in hand. He held it up to the light and studied for a few seconds. "Looks like you're lucky this time Mr. Stokes, the bullet missed the bone. The nurse'll be around in a minute to bandage you both up and then you're free to go. Oh, and Mr. Stokes keep that arm in a sling for a week."

"Thank God." Brass intoned as the doctor walked away. "I hate the hospital. The sooner I get out of here the better."

"Lucky for you guys then that I'm here." They looked over at the nurse that just walked up. She barely topped off at five foot and with her hair tied back in pigtails, looked barely old enough to work there.

"You're our nurse?"

She glared over her glasses. "If you make any munchkin jokes I'm walking away now and you'll never get out of here."

Neither said a word so she knelt on the bed behind Brass and quickly bandaged his head and sent him on his way. She turned to Nick snapping on a new pair of gloves. "You're not gonna like what happens next."

He idly watched as she peeled the towel away and inspected the wound. He started to relax until she poked the bullet hole hard enough with her pinkie finger it sank in to the first knuckle. He tried to wrench away spitting epithets left and right but her small hand held his arm firmly in place as she began to pack it with gauze and then wrapped another swath around his upper arm and taped it off and fitted him in a sling.

She slapped a piece of paper in his hand. "The doctor left you a script. You're free to go."

As he made his way towards the exit he found Brass leaning against the wall next to the door. He fell into step next to Nick and both headed out to the squad waiting to pick them up.

As soon as the automatic doors closed behind them Brass looked over at Nick. "You know you scream like a little girl?"


End file.
